There’s an old saying that you can’t judge a book by its cover. That may be true when it comes to people, but when it comes to actual books? Readers absolutely judge them by the cover—and they do it in seconds. Your book cover is your first, best piece of marketing. It’s the visual hook…
17 Ways a Book Can Sink Your Credibility I met with a small business owner this past weekend and she said it seemed like everyone was writing a book for their business right now. I laughed and reminded her that ten or so years ago, it seemed like everyone was writing a book for their…
You need to bring your own readers, whether you are self or traditionally published. What do I mean? For self-publishing, the answer is obvious: You need to find and market to your potential readers. Gone are the days when you could stick a book on Amazon and expect to get some traction. Keywords and strategic…
Click here for Part I and here for Part II of this series, Red Flags that Scream a Book is Self-Published. Part III: Front and Back Matter When I started this series of articles about red flags, I thought… well, I didn’t think it would be a series. I figured one article, a list of…
PART II: Content and Interior Formatting. If you missed Part I of this series, Red Flags that Scream a Book is Self-Published, you can find it here. More and more authors are choosing to self-publish: The traditional publishing path often takes far longer than an author, particularly a business author, wants to wait. In addition,…
Part I: The Physical Book Just because you’re self-publishing your book doesn’t mean it has to look anything less than professional. Most readers don’t check to see if a book has a traditional publisher or is self-published. Sadly, many times they don’t have to check. There are so many ways a book screams “self-published.” Why…
Getting your manuscript files back (and your cover files!) from the person or company that uploaded them for you isn’t important–until you need to make changes and neither you nor the other party can find them. Why I Wrote This Post I am working with a publishing client, a lovely lady, who had a company…
The steps to self-publishing aren’t complicated or numerous, and they don’t have to be expensive. However, it’s good to get an overall view before jumping into the process. Looking at the steps to self-publishing before you start can give you an idea of what is actually involved, what the time frames might be, and keep…
Promotion and publishing scams are everywhere on the Internet. Here’s what to look out for. TLDR: If a “publisher” is asking you for money, email me before you pay anything. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. There are a lot of advantages to self-publishing, including retaining total control of your book, higher royalty…
A question I frequently see in the self-publishing/indie author groups I belong to is “How do I market my book?” And just for more fun, it is usually posted using exactly those words, with no context as to genre, target market, what the author has done so far, etc. Marketing Your Nonfiction Book Has Many…